GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



327 



bee will nurse and bring on to the stage of 

 action fn m two to five younj^ bees, henca 

 there will be no spi ing dwindling', but, in- 

 stead, a hive full of bees prepared for an 

 early honey harvest, which could not be the 

 case where bees are set out earl}', and us- 

 ing: all their vital energ-ies to keep the clus- 

 ter warm enough to nurse a li tie brood, 

 which will not mature nearlj' fast enough 

 to suppl}' the waste of old bees which are 

 k st in the cool weather of earlj'^ spring', in 

 Iheir vain search for water, pollen, and 

 early flowers." 



" Well, that sounds as reasonable as the 

 other, except the water part. I should sup- 

 pose there would be more water at this time 

 of the year than at any other." 



'They do not argue that there is any 

 scarcity of water at this time of the year, 

 but th^t the bees in g"oing- for it perish by 

 the thousands in becoming' chilled and be- 

 numbed by clouds passing^ over the sun 

 while they are taking' their load of cold 

 wat r, or by their getting- into the water 

 and immediatel}' chilling to death in their 

 benumbed condition." 



"What shall I do where there is such a 

 disagreement as this? Which shall I fol- 

 low? " 



"My way of arriving at a conclusion in 

 such a case as this has been to s t a few 

 colonies out as early as days sufficiently 

 warm oc;ur, the latter part of March, and 

 then set out a few at a time on e ch occur- 

 ring warm day, till pollen becomes plenti- 

 ful from the soft maple and elm, at which 

 time all agree that the bees should be on 

 their summer stands. Of course, such set- 

 ting out as this can apply only to the home 

 yard; for when we go to the out-apiary it is 

 a matter of economy to set all out on the day 

 we are there." 



"Did you arrive at any definite conclu- 

 sion in the matter, so you are positive which 

 is best?" 



"Well, no, not exactly. Very much de- 

 pends upon the way the season turns. 

 Some years the bees early set out seem to 

 do the best; other years those set out late 

 have a decided advantage. One year I did 

 not set out the larger part of the bees till 

 the elm and soft maple were past their 

 height of bloom, and witnessed something 

 I never saw before, which was, bees by the 

 hundreds coming in loaded with bright red 

 and yellow pollen, within half an hour aft- 

 er the colonies were placed on their sum- 

 mer stands. That it was possible for one 

 old bee to be the mears of placing on the 

 stage of action five bees to take the place of 

 itself, was apparently p-oven that year; for, 

 within 30 to 35 days from the time of setting 

 out, many of these colonies were nearly or 

 quite ready to swarm, and not one colony 

 showed any signs of spring dwindling. 

 Within 21 days from time of setiing out, 

 nearly every comb in the hive was filled 

 with brood, and so perfectly solid that, 

 when the young bees began to emerge, the 

 hives were filled to overflowing in a few 

 days." 



"Then 3'ou would rather favor the plan 

 of late setting out?" 



" To tell the matter just as it is, I am 

 generally from ten days to three weeks in 

 getting my bees out, and in this way I am 

 quite sure of a full success with a part of 

 them, no matter how the season turns. 

 Long ago I came to the conclusion that it 

 was not wise to have all of the eggs in one 

 basket." 



"I think I will try the slow- setting-out 

 plan with mine, as there certainly can be 

 no great loss by this way. Now how is the 

 setting-out done?" 



"At the out- apiary I always have a man 

 help me, and we put a rope under the cleats 

 of each hive, when he takes hold of one end 

 or loop of the rope and I the other, and we 

 carry them out without jar, and set them 

 on the stands as quickly as may be so as 

 to get all out to have the benefit of the mid- 

 day sun." 



"But I have no man with me; and to hire 

 one for the setting- out of only a few at a 

 time would be a sort of nuisance. How do 

 you work at home?" 



"I takemv wheelbarrow, and on it spread 

 several thicknesses of old carpet, or some- 

 thing of that sort. Two horse-blankets 

 folded so as to be the size of the bottom of 

 the wheelbarrow are about the best of auy 

 thing." 



" What do you do this for?" 



"This is to take ofl" any jar that may 

 come from the wheel to the barrow going 

 over rough ground; for in moving bees it is 

 always best to arouse them as little as pos- 

 sible. I now start a fire in my smoker, and 

 with the two go to the cellar door, where I 

 leave both and go in and bring out a colony, 

 placing it on the blankets on the wheelbar- 

 row. As soon as this is done I raise the 

 front of the hive a little and blow in two or 

 three pufi^s of smoke, which keeps the bees 

 fr. m coming out and getting lost on the way 

 to their stands, and also from thsir sting- 

 ing me, which those which fly out, where 

 no smoke is used, are quite sure to try to 

 d ." 



"I am glad you told me of that, for I 

 should not have thought of their coming out 

 and stinging, nor of their getting lost. But 

 go on. ' * 



"As soon as the smoke is puffed into the 

 hive the cellar door is shut so that the out- 

 side air shall not raise the temperature of 

 the cellar, and thus arouse the bees inside, 

 when the hive is wheeled to where it is to 

 stand during the summer, the entrance ad- 

 justed, and the whole left as they are to 

 stand thereafter." 



"Do you take pains to put each colony 

 back on the stand it occupied the previous 

 season?" 



"No. I know that some think that this 

 should be done. But in setting out I always 

 scatter the hives about, one here and anoth- 

 er there, as far apart as possible at the 

 first setting-out, then at the next setting- 

 out fill in between, so that no two colonies 

 will be in full flight at the same time. 



